Job scam: Arrested railway official remanded in 2-day transit custody

Railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal’s nephew Vijay Singla, booked on Friday evening on bribery charges, had allegedly demanded bribe of Rs10 crore for the post of member (electrical) on the railway board, and negotiations were on with arrested senior railway official and railway board member Mahesh Kumar, as the post is yet to become vacant.

This was revealed in the remand application submitted by the anti-corruption branch of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seeking two-day transit remand of Kumar, who was arrested on Friday evening, soon after he landed at Mumbai airport.

Acting on the plea, a special CBI anti-corruption court on Saturday remanded Kumar to two days in transit custody so that the central agency can take him to Delhi, where it has registered an FIR, and produce him before an appropriate court there.

According to the CBI, Kumar was appointed as member (staff), railway board, just two days ago and he was allegedly negotiating with Singla to continue to hold the post of general manager, Western Railways.

Kumar had allegedly agreed to pay an amount of Rs2 crore for the simultaneous post of general manager (Western Railway) and Singla had allegedly received first installment of Rs90 lakh paid in Chandigarh on behalf of Kumar, the application stated.

The CBI claimed that Kumar had handed over the first installment to a middleman, Manjunath, who passed it on to one Sandeep Goyal. Goyal in turn paid the bribe amount to Singla. Manjunath is said to be a businessman from Chandigarh.

On Saturday, Kumar’s counsel M Janardhanan urged the special CBI court to allow Kumar to get admitted to a hospital as he was suffering from chest pain, and offered that the bureaucrat on his own will remain present before the concerned court at Delhi. CBI opposed the move stating the medical report of Saint Georges Hospital, where he was examined, did not indicate any ailment.

The special court rejected the plea and remanded Kumar to two days transit custody saying the CBI would take him to a hospital, if required.